LJI S11 Wk11 - Wild Goose Chase
I've never been especially afraid of needles (except at the dentist! Those are a great big effing NOPE!) but if you'd told me a couple of years ago I'd be running all over town *chasing down* someone to give me unnecessary shots, I'd have said you were bananas.
It started just after Dragoncon in 2018, when one of the artists posted to a large con-based Facebook group to say she'd come down with chickenpox shortly after the con, and to apologize to anyone she may have inadvertently infected. Guess who has never had chickenpox *or* the vaccination for it?? THIS GIRL! I wasn't too worried, and as it turned out I didn't catch it, but it got me thinking.
A few months later I was at the doctor for my annual exam and asked for an MMR titer with my usual bloodwork. She thought I was being overly concerned, but it turned out that I was no longer immune to the measles. She explained that they didn't carry MMR or varicella in their office, but she could call the presciption in to the pharmacy for me. Either the pharmacist could do the injection, or I could bring them to the office. I thought getting a shot from the pharmacist sounded a little weird, and planned to bring the vials to my doctor to complete.
A few days later I got a phone call from a pharmacy tech. "We wanted to make sure you really wanted this before we ordered it."
Huh? "Yes, please order it and let me know when I can come get them. Thanks!"
A few days later the pharmacy called back. "Hi, I see your doctor called in a prescription for the varicella vaccine. There's a note on the order to call you and make sure you really want it. Just to make sure."
*blink blink* "Yes ma'am, someone called me a couple of days ago. Please order it. I definitely want it. Ok? Thank you so much!"
I was starting to wonder if the universe was trying to tell me something.
Two weeks went by and I heard nothing, so I called them back. "Yes, I see a note on this order that someone was supposed to call you to see if you really wanted this before we ordered it..."
Are you freaking KIDDING me?
"We have to order a whole box of 12 and chances are it will expire before we use it all, so... so they wanted us to make sure..."
"Are there any other Walgreens [name not changed to protect the incompetent] in the area who already have it in stock, and you can transfer my prescription order there?"
She gave me the address, affirmed that she was transferring my prescription to them, and hung up. Did it occur to me there would be any additional problems? Of course not! I'd found a solution - no pesky "ordering" was needed because this store already had what I needed. All I had to do is go get it.
"Hi, the store on 55 was supposed to transfer over a varicella and an MMR vaccination for me to pick up..."
"Oh, you can't take it with you - the varicella is refrigerated so the pharmacist has to give you the shot here."
I sighed. "Sure, that's fine - I just want to get it done."
"I'll need to get the pharmacist, when she's done filling some prescriptions. Hang on."
So I waited. And I paced. And I forked around on my phone until finally I heard my name at the other window.
"Hey Miz Robin, thank you for your patience. We don't actually have that in stock right now, but-"
"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?"
"We don't keep those in stock because there's so little call for them, but we can order it for you..."
"Wait. NO. I came here because the other store said you HAD them in stock."
"I'm afraid they must have been mistaken. I am so sorry about that. If you'll just be a little patient, we can order..."
"No. Nope. I'm done. You can transfer this prescription to anywhere, right? Ok. That's all. I'm out of here. No more ordering, no more checking. I'm done."
Sitting in my car in the parking lot, cursing and fuming, I looked up the phone number for an independent pharmacy I'd seen a flyer for.
"Hello, Southpoint Pharmacy, this is Prasanna."
I gave the man my name and asked him to transfer my prescriptions over from Big Useless Chain Pharmacy, and explained the issue I'd been having.
"No problem, Miss Robin, we will take care of this for you. Let me call my suppliers and find out when I can have your medications here."
It took a week or so, because they gave him a mysterious run-around too, but he was persistent and called them every day until he got what I needed. He even showed me the notes he kept, pinned to the wall above his phone at the front counter.
After all that, it turned out that getting a shot from a pharmacist isn't really that weird after all! Live and learn.
I immediately transferred the rest of my prescriptions to his pharmacy, and my husband's, and even the cat's, and haven't set foot in a Walgreen's since.